Syrian Opposition Demands World Action After Aleppo Attack

Syria's main opposition group pulls out of international talks, demands world action after missiles slam into the city of Aleppo.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 2/24/2013, 6:16 AM

Site of Aleppo explosion

AFP photo

Syria's main opposition group said on Saturday that it was pulling out of international talks and demanded world action to stop the slaughter of Syrians, after missiles slammed into the city of Aleppo, killing dozens.

The Syrian National Coalition's decided to boycott talks with world power after announcing plans to form a government to run "liberated areas" of Syria, AFP reported.

Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib said the group's withdrawal from meetings abroad was "a message of protest to all governments of the world, Arab and non-Arab, that can see how the Syrian people are being killed, while they merely look on."

He was speaking as the conflict, which has cost the lives of more than 70,000 people according to the UN, is set to enter its third year, with no end in sight.

Condemning the "international silence" on the bloodshed in Syria, which it charged "amounts to participating in two years of killings," the opposition said Friday that it would not attend meetings in Italy, Russia and the United States, according to AFP.

It singled out Damascus ally Russia for blame, saying its leaders were "ethically and politically responsible because they continue to support the (Syrian) regime with weapons."

The group had been due to attend a Friends of Syria meeting in Rome on Thursday, while Khatib had also been invited to Moscow, and to the United States.

"We cannot visit any country until there is a clear decision on this savage, aggressive regime," Khatib said of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to AFP.

Britain urged the opposition to reconsider its decision to pull out of the Rome, Washington and Moscow meetings, insisting "now is not the time to give up" on talks.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said London was "preparing a further offer of support" for the National Coalition at the meeting in Rome.

Opposition spokesman Walid al-Bunni insisted, however, that statements should be "accompanied by action" and said the world had a duty to protect Syrians from the regime of the "butcher" Assad.

"If you are our real friends, help us to stop the massacres that are being committed against our own people," Bunni said, challenging the United States to honor what he said were promises of support for democracy in Syria.

The opposition has repeatedly asked the international community to arm the rebels but Bunni fell short of repeating the demand, which Western powers have balked at, fearing the growing influence of radical Islamists.

Meanwhile, UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said a devastating attack on Thursday near the ruling Baath party's main offices in central Damascus had left about 100 people dead and another 250 wounded, described it as a "war crime."

Both the regime and opposition have blamed the attack on "terrorists."

In Aleppo, at least 37 people were killed and 150 wounded in missile strikes on the Tariq al-Bab district on Friday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Shelling of the city's Maadi district killing at least 14 civilians, among them 11 children, said the Britain-based watchdog, which gave a toll of at least 64 people killed in fighting across Syria on Saturday.

Elsewhere A Lebanese man was killed by gunfire on Saturday near a river that runs along Lebanon's northern border with Syria, a security source said.

The violence in Syria has increasingly spilled over into Lebanon, with cross-border shellings in the north and east.

Last week the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) began to attack the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terror group.

The attacks came less than a day after the FSA chief of staff issued a 48-hour ultimatum warning Hizbullah to stop shelling territory held by the rebels.